WEST PLAINS, MO – Ozark Healthcare has opened a new Medical Office Building featuring over 20 specialties in one conveniently accessible location. Located adjacent to Ozarks Healthcare’s Shaw Medical Building and hospital, the expansion of approximately 100,000 new square feet includes specialty clinics and ancillary services, a new restaurant, coffee shop, gift shop, chapel, pharmacy, and more.
“We are more than excited to see our latest expansion project come to life,” Tom Keller, Ozarks Healthcare President and CEO, said. “This space is focused entirely on better serving the health needs of our community with a new level of added convenience. This is one of our largest milestones as a healthcare system, and we are grateful for the opportunity to grow our care for our patients and community.”
The health system’s expansion project began in summer of 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally scheduled to open in late 2021, officials say delays did not cause any extreme hindering of overall progression of construction.
“As with most building projects over the past few years, the pandemic presented some challenges with the schedule of construction,” Josh Reeves, Vice President of Development at Ozarks Healthcare, said. “We had some delays with equipment, but the teamwork of our construction and planning teams, including those especially at Killian Construction and Cromwell Architects and Engineers, have been incredible. We were able to use any delays to refine our design plans even more to create a space that we truly believe is one of the best healthcare facilities in Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas.”
Specialty clinics and departments are spread throughout the three stories of the Medical Office Building. These include: Ozarks Healthcare’s Imaging, Laboratory, Patient Financial Services, and Registration departments on the first floor, Ozarks Healthcare’s Heart and Lung Center, Orthopedics and Spine, Pain Management, and Podiatry clinics on its second floor, and Ozarks Healthcare’s Endocrinology, Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT), General Surgery, Infectious Disease, Neurology, Rheumatology, and Urology clinics on its third floor. Healthcare providers say the move will help improve the flow of patients and clinic operations.
“The mobility and modernized interior space of our new clinic locations are going to be outstanding,” Dr. Troy Caron, orthopedic and spine surgeon at Ozarks Healthcare Orthopedics and Spine, said. “A lot of our specialties overlap and rely on each other. For example, my clinic uses radiology and refers patients to pain management in between visits with our providers. Now that these specialties are closer together, our patients can have access to everything in one location, and the staff and providers from other clinics we work with daily will have improved communication now that we can literally walk down the hall to access each other’s teams.”
The interior of Ozarks Healthcare’s new Medical Office Building also features new custom artwork and furniture that were designed to reflect the culture and landscape of the Ozarks. Guests first notice the unique representation after walking through the space’s entrance, where a hanging glass sculpture created by Third Degree Glass Factory in St. Louis with hundreds of colored pieces of glass reflect the colors of the Ozarks hills and waters greets them.
“We wanted this space to feel like home while representing who we are as a health system rooted in the Ozarks,” Keller said. “Our design elements through the building, from the paint on the walls to the fabric of our furniture, has been specially selected to carry this concept through the entire building.”
Ozarks Healthcare’s new restaurant, Grill 59, which pays homage to its original opening as West Plains Memorial Hospital in 1959, will open along with the first floor on February 28 (with the exception of the pharmacy, coffee shop, and gift shop, which will open in late spring of 2022). A new dining area within the medical office building also includes quick grab-and-go options and custom-serve stations.
“Our new dining area will offer a completely new variety of fresh meal options with some of our favorite and unique selections through Grill 59,” Reeves said. “Eventually, we plan to be able to have a special weekend brunch hour for the public.”
Hours for our coffee shop, which proudly serves Starbucks Coffee, will be announced soon. The coffee shop serves most Starbucks menu beverages.
Staff from Ozarks Healthcare are already expressing their excitement about the health system’s new facilities.
“After two hard years of working and keeping up with the pace of the pandemic, I’m excited to have a fresh and new space to enjoy,” Christen Weaver, registered nurse (RN) and Ozarks Healthcare Neurology and Rheumatology Practice Manager, said. “The medical office building feels bright, which is a feeling all of our staff continue to search for during long days. I think most of our community can relate to this feeling too, which is why this space will be so meaningful for everyone. Healthcare should feel and look this hopeful.”
For more information and answers to questions regarding Ozarks Healthcare’s new medical office building, please visit https://www.ozarkshealthcare.com/about-us/expansion/.
